My So-Called Perfect Life

by K. A. Berg

“Don’t push me,” I glare at her. “I have a key to your place and will slip in, in the middle of the night, and shave your head.”

  My threat goes ignored as she just laughs. “Whatever. Just get on the man’s bike.”

  I shake my head adamantly. “Not a chance.”

  “Come on, Dani Girl,” Ryan says grabbing my hand, pulling my body into his. “Live a little.”

  “I want to live a lot, not just a little, hence why I’m not getting on that bike.”

  Ryan places a finger under my chin and lifts it, looking me directly in the eyes as he speaks. “Do you honestly think I’d let anything happen to you?”

  His words are sincere, I have no doubts about that. “Not everything is within your control, Ryan.”

  “Trust me. Be adventurous with me,” Ryan counters. “Adventure never hurt anybody.”

  I quirk my eyebrows at him. Has he so quickly forgotten? “The last time I decided to be adventurous, I gave you Chlamydia.”

  His smile is bright, almost brighter than the sun setting behind him. “And look at how great that turned out for us?”

  I nibble my lip as I stare at the bike behind him. Could I get on that thing? The way Mercy was talking before, it seems like something to experience. Remember that time you thought you’d have to be scraped up like roadkill after Ryan was finished with you? My subconscious asks. This . . . this is that time.

  Ryan pulls me flush against him and stares into my eyes. “I’m not going to force you to get on this bike Danielle. But I think you’d enjoy letting your hair down a bit. I’m not going to strap you in and then hurdle through the city streets at a hundred miles an hour. We’ll start off slow. I was planning on heading just outside of town, on the back roads. A quick little trip and then back for the evening rush at the bar. What’d ya say?”

  I want to say Hell No! but part of me also wants to say Hell Yeah! thinking about holding onto him and letting him take me on one of his adventures, even if this is just a little one for him.

  “Oh, for Christ’s sake.” Mercy throws her hands up. “Will you just get on the damn bike?”

  Ryan cocks his head to the side and raises an eyebrow in question.

  “You promise you aren’t going to let me die?”

  His laugh is rich as he tosses his head back drawing my attention to his Adam’s Apple. “Dani Girl, I swear"—he places his hand over his heart—"on my life, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  Wrapped in leather pants over my shorts, a leather jacket over my t-shirt, and a helmet that Ryan bought for me, I sit on the back of Ryan’s bike ready to crap my pants.

  “Wrap your arms around my waist,” he directs. “Make sure you stay loose and lean with me.”

  I squeeze my arms around him as my heart hammers inside my chest as if it’s on crank or crack or speed. He starts the bike and the metal comes to life. It purrs under me sending vibrations throughout my body. I press further into Ryan and squeeze my eyes shut knowing that he’s about to pull away from the curb.

  “Trust me, Danielle,” he shouts above the roar of the bike.

  He gently pulls into the street going slow. My heart knocks against my rib cage.

  Okay, this isn’t so bad. Ryan doesn’t zip down the block but keeps his word and goes at a low speed.

  The air whistles through the helmet as I watch the buildings, streetlamps, and bus stops go by. I see when Ryan reaches the exit for the freeway to take us out of the city.

  My fingers dig into Ryan’s side as I close my eyes as if that will help ward off the increase in speed I know is coming with getting on the highway,

  A tension ball of fear is lodged right in my throat closing off my airways as the bike propels forward. I gasp but it feels like I took in zero air. A tingle runs through my body. An excitement zings as the wind picks up my hair. I can feel the way Ryan’s abs flex with the turn, and the bike under us surges onto the road like a bat out of hell, or at least it feels like it.

  Something inside me breaks open and I open my eyes. My head turns left and right watching as we pass everything by at what seems like warp speed. The air is warm as it whips around us and I have the urge to let out a yell, like when you stick your head out of the sunroof of a limo.

  “Whooo!”

  Ryan’s chest rumbles with laughter against my hands “There you go, Dani Girl!” he yells out over the noise around us.

  Mercy was one-hundred percent correct. This is erotic, yet still terrifying as hell. Ryan’s muscles bunch and flex under me. His ass is pressed right into the apex of my thighs mashing that part where all the seams of my denim shorts meet directly into my clit. It’s like a little hot button he keeps applying pressure to while the vibrations from the bike do all the rest of the work.

  I scoot as close as I can to him, pressing my chest as hard as possible into his back and just feel. I let the wind and sunshine take over and I just enjoy as Ryan takes us on a ride.

  About half an hour later, Ryan pulls off the main road into what looks like some kind of secluded trail. He weaves the bike slowly through the trees following along the dirt path until we reach a clearing.

  He turns off the bike and I pull my helmet off wanting to take it all in.

  “Wow!” I look around the opening in amazement. “This is gorgeous.”

  Scooching back, I swing my leg backward and over the bike like I’ve done this a hundred times. Ryan pulls his helmet off and gives me a lustful look as I stand next to the bike, my helmet dangling from my hand. “Well, look at you, little miss biker girl. One ride and you fill those leathers with confidence and badass-ness.”

  It’s not as if I have intentions of going out and getting my own bike, but with the way that Ryan is looking at me, I’m tempted to go buy some leather to wear in the bedroom.

  Hanging his helmet off the handlebar, Ryan swings his long, tight denim-clad leg over the bike and a tingle forms between my thighs. Between all the vibrations from the bike, how hot Ryan looks on it, and the way he’s looking at me, I’m practically primed for the taking.

  “Come on,” Ryan says grabbing my hand. “I want to show you something.”

  He leads me out toward the end of the clearing. It overlooks a gorge. The sounds of water running fill the air.

  “You see that?” Ryan points to some stone stairs leading down somewhere into the chasm. “It leads down to behind the waterfall you hear.”

  It’s crazy to think something so beautiful and serene is hiding just outside the craze of the city. “How did you find this place?”

  He takes my hand and leads me to the carved-out stairs. “I found it hiking last year. I followed the sound of the water. Now, I come here once in a while when I need to recharge.”

  We walk hand in hand along the somewhat frightening stone steps down to a ledge.

  Astonishment and wonder fill my chest as I watch the water run down from above us. It reminds me of a picture out of a nature calendar. A calm in the middle of the storm. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

  “Because you always follow the safe and proper road, Dani Girl!” Ryan chuckles as he wraps his arms around me from behind, squeezing me to his chest. “Life is more fun when you let it take you where it wants you to go.”

  His fingers inch under the waistband of my leather pants. “Oh yeah?” I ask. “What road do you think those fingers are traveling?”

  He pops the button on the leather pants, then the one to my jean shorts they cover. “The road to the best kind of ecstasy.”

  His fingers dance over the top of my mound and a shiver runs down my spine. “Ryan, as much as I’d love to, we can’t do this here. Someone could find us.”

  His breath is warm on my ear, a stark comparison to the coolness coming off the water flowing only a few feet away from us. “I guess we’d better be quick then.”

  The pad of his finger is rough and scrapes along the tip of my clit in the best way. My knees buckle, and a moan slips out before I can make another objection to public
sex.

  “Just feel Danielle,” Ryan coos, his finger still working its naughty magic on my clit. “No one will find us.”

  “Ryan . . .” My voice trails off and there’s zero authority in it. My heart beats quicker in my chest as I feel the beginning of my orgasm brewing just under the surface. The entire ride here was foreplay and now the lightest of touches has me trembling under Ryan’s expert hand.

  He kicks my foot out to the side and positions his knee between my legs. I fall back into him as the waves crest and break filling me with a euphoric release.

  “Ryan,” I cry out his name as he kisses my neck, his fingers pinching and rolling the sensitive bundle of nerves between them.

  He juts his hips forward and I feel his erection in my lower back. “Such a good girl, Dani,” he praises before dragging his tongue up my neck to just under my ear. “Feel how hard I am for you.”

  All my inhibitions seem to have left the building as I reach back and cup the very hard dick through his jeans.

  Ryan growls, removes his hand from my pants, and spins me around. I have his button open and zipper down by the time he has freed my right leg from the shorts and pants. He magically produces a condom from his pocket and slides it down his dick.

  "Had this planned, did you?" I pique an eyebrow. “A little presumptuous, no?”

  His lips tip up in his signature naughty grin and my insides flutter. Somehow this man turns me into a pile of girly goo when his dick is involved. “Confident.”

  “Cocky.”

  He picks me up and presses my body into the rocks and sediment behind the waterfall. My legs wrap around his waist, pants hanging off them. “You’re about to get a whole lot of cock, Dani Girl.”

  All words are lost as Ryan slides his entire length into me in one thrust. “Oh, God,” I cry out as he stretches and fills me.

  “No, it’s just me, sweet girl,” he chuckles and pulls back, sliding in again and again.

  I’m not sure whether it’s my imagination or there’s actually people coming because I swear, I hear voices coming from above us.

  “Ryan,” I moan out in question.

  He leans into me, his tongue tracing the shell of my ear as the rocks dig further into my back. “You better hurry and come on my cock before they make their way down here and see you.”

  For some reason the idea of being caught both terrifies and exhilarates me. My core spasms around Ryan. “Do you like the idea of someone seeing you? Seeing you fall apart with my dick in you?”

  His voice, combined with the fear of the others finding us, has the intensity building deep in my belly. It climbs higher and higher with each thrust and each word spoken as the voices get closer and closer.

  “There’s a naughty girl inside you, isn’t there Danielle?” Ryan drives harder with each word. “Come for me, Dani Girl. Come on my cock. Or would you rather wait until the visitors are down here to watch you?”

  All the tension coiled in my core explodes and I come hard, digging my nails into Ryan’s scalp as I do. The waves wash over me, drowning out everything surrounding us. My thighs tighten around Ryan’s waist and don’t loosen until the last twitches of my orgasm are over.

  Ryan bites down into my shoulder as he finishes. His cock throbbing inside me with his release. “Good God, Danielle,” he pants. “I swear you turn me inside out.”

  We can make out the words of the people heading down toward us, meaning they are dangerously close to seeing us. I right my clothing as Ryan takes care of his condom and pants. We finish fixing ourselves just in the nick of time.

  A man, woman, and young boy follow the path right to where Ryan just finished rocking my world. I can feel my pulse throbbing in the vein in my neck and I’m positive my cheeks are burning red.

  “Hi, ya,” the man greats us. “Sorry to interrupt.”

  “No worries,” Ryan says smooth as silk, no hint in his voice at all that we were just banging right here. “We’re heading out, anyway. Enjoy the view. It’s really beautiful.”

  I scurry past the family and up the stairway. When we reach the bike, I burst out in a fit of laughter.

  “Holy crap,” I say. “They almost caught us.”

  Ryan’s eyes shine with adoration and mischief. “And you got off on the thrill of it, Dani Girl.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Danielle

  “This is the last box,” Ryan tells me as he carries it into my classroom. A sexy rivulet of sweat drips down his temple. Who the hell would’ve thought a sweaty man could be this enticing?

  He surprised me when he volunteered to help me set up my classroom. I usually do it by myself, or sometimes, Mercy helps, considering it doesn’t take as much to set up her classroom. He surprised me again when I found out that he owned a truck. We’ve been spending time together for two months now, and I just learned he has a vehicle other than that scary-but-sexy-as-hell motorcycle.

  “It makes visiting my parents easier in the winter,” he explained. “I don’t really use it much in the city. There’s no need.”

  He swung by my apartment and loaded all the boxes from Amazon, plus the ones packed up from last year, into the back. Then, he drove across the city to come here.

  “It’s a blank slate in here.” He stacks the last box on top of the others and stands in the middle of my classroom, taking it all in. “I remember the classrooms being fairly empty at the end of each school year but not like this.”

  “It feels like a part of me is fading out when I have to take everything down each year.”

  He turns, giving me his bright white smile. “Well then, let’s revive your soul and get this place back into shape. I’ve two capable hands here, so put them to work. What do we need to do first?”

  This man never ceases to amaze me. He always shows interest in my life, no matter what part.

  Warmth spreads in my chest. Ryan has been healing me day by day. Teaching me a little bit more about myself that I didn’t know before. I thought I was happy with Scott. I thought I knew what I wanted in my life and that I had it all. But Ryan has shown me time and again that I want more. I deserve more. I want someone who is going to push me out of my comfort zone. Someone who helps me grow. Someone who is going to be a part of everything in my life—like setting up my classroom.

  “First, I have to move the desks.”

  The custodian always sets the desks together in the center of the room after school’s out.

  “I spent, like, three hours reading research about the most effective desk arrangements.”

  His head tilts. “Research? Effective desk arrangement? Don’t they just go in rows?”

  “No,” I say with a laugh. “There’s a whole field on effective classroom setup. How to arrange the best flow for positive learning. Kind of like the science and thought that goes into building a bar.”

  I grab my binder off my desk and flip to the diagram I printed. “I found this one online. I haven’t done this one before, so I want to try it out and see.”

  Ryan flips through my binder with everything for my classroom. Lesson plans, worksheets, all my design ideas. He looks from the binder to me with soft eyes. “I never thought about how much goes into being a teacher. You amaze me with your dedication to your students.”

  The sincerity in his words is palpable.

  “Thank you.”

  “And your organization is on a whole other level.” He laughs. “Want to come work on my bar?”

  I thrive on having everything laid out for me. I have a plan. I know what to expect. It makes my life easy. So many colleagues of mine laugh at my structure but then want my help by the end of the year.

  “Well, you’re helping me today. I’m happy to reciprocate.”

  “A little quid pro quo,” He waggles his eyebrows. “Well, then let’s get these desks in order.”

  I almost feel guilty, not helping him move the desks around the room, but the way his royal-blue T-shirt clings to the impeccable muscles of his back is a view
I just can’t turn away from. I’ve never seen anything quite as panty-melting as a hotter-than-sin man moving little chairs around a room.

  “Please tell me that you have air-conditioning in here once school is back in session,” he huffs. “It’s way too hot in here to concentrate. I’ve only been in here twenty minutes, and I’m ready for a cold shower.”

  Budgets for inner city schools can’t possibly cover everything, so we don’t have air-conditioning. “I have two window units in storage that I’ll bring in the day before school starts.”

  He lifts his shirt and wipes his forehead with it, revealing his nice, sculpted abs. “What’s next?”

  “Uh …” I shake my head to clear my thoughts of having those pressed against my stomach. “The rug goes in the corner over there. It’s in the closet.”

  As Ryan situates the rug, I start pulling all the jungle-themed items from the boxes.

  Two hours later, my classroom has turned into the Amazon rainforest.

  “I don’t think I’ve seen this many monkeys or bananas in my life,” Ryan comments, walking around my finished classroom.

  I laugh. “You’re to blame for it.”

  “Me?” he asks planting his hands on his hips feigning insult. “How am I responsible for this monkey business?”

  My laugh builds deep in my belly. Somehow, he always manages to make me laugh. It’s one of the things I look forward to most when we spend time together.

  “I was trying to keep my mind off your drink invitation, so I dove into a new classroom theme to keep my thoughts focused on something other than you.”

  He crosses the room with sweat dotting his hairline. His signature pompadour hairstyle slips as one piece hangs down near his eye. Those incredible Caribbean water–colored eyes, which are only brightened by the deep blue of his shirt, fill with a smug satisfaction.

  “You bought all this to distract yourself from me?” His voice is oozing with smugness. “All because you didn’t want to give in to me. All those brush-offs when you really wanted to say yes? Oh, Dani Girl, you should’ve just given in.”